Some may ask, “Why does God allow lions to kill and eat other animals?” This is a good question. In the original creation blood-shedding, death and eating of flesh were unknown. But Adam and Eve were warned by God that if they disobeyed His instructions death would result. As we know from the Bible, they did disobey and immediately an example of the penalty of sin was shown them, for God killed animals to provide them with “coats of skins.”
Sin having entered into the world, God oversaw a change in many of His creatures, allowing some to become flesh eaters (carnivores), others remaining as before. This certainly was an evidence to Adam and Eve, as it is to us, of how dreadful sin is in God’s sight. Yet, in His perfect way, He saw that the needed changes were made in the appetites and digestive systems of these animals which were to display the penalty of death through their activities.
Happily, in a coming day (the millennium) the original peaceful order will return. This will be after those whose faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ have been called into heaven and after God’s rightful anger against the world that has refused His love results in His terrible judgment on them. Then there will come forth an earthly people pleasing to the Lord, and the animals will be changed to be as they were when first created. One Bible verse explaining this says “the calf and the young lion shall lie down together.... And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.” Isaiah 11:6,76The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. 7And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. (Isaiah 11:6‑7).
Meanwhile, all life is dependent on the minerals, vitamins and nutrients provided in the soil by the Creator and conveyed to grass, vegetation, fruits, seeds and nuts. But lions and other carnivores don’t eat that kind of food now, so how are they to get this important nutrition? Here is another wonder of God’s ways. As a browsing animal (antelopes, zebras, etc.) eats vegetation these important things are deposited in its flesh and blood and, in turn, carried into the body of the carnivore that eats it. Only the Lord God, the Creator, could make such a provision.
God has not overlooked the herds from which slain animals are taken, either. A high percentage of those killed are sickly and weak and a burden to their companions. It is a mercy to have them removed with only a few moments of pain rather than linger on weak and sickly to a slow death.
Also, if the numbers of antelopes, impalas, etc., were not reduced this way, the herds would increase so greatly that soon there would not be enough food and they would face starvation. So we see God’s ways show His infinite wisdom in all things.
ML-05/13/1984